Azerbaijan’s Speaker Sahiba Gafarova Highlights Mine Threat, Humanitarian Challenges at IPU Assembly in Geneva

Baku, The Gulf Observer: Speaker of Azerbaijan’s Milli Majlis, Sahiba Gafarova, has drawn global attention to the ongoing threat of landmines in Azerbaijan’s liberated territories, describing it as one of the most pressing humanitarian and environmental challenges facing the country.

Addressing the 151st Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Geneva, Switzerland, Gafarova said the contamination of Azerbaijani territories with mines continues to endanger lives and obstruct reconstruction and development efforts.

She noted that during the years of occupation, Armenia had planted a vast number of landmines across the previously occupied regions, leaving behind a deadly legacy that still hampers the safe return of displaced people.

“Since 2020, more than 400 Azerbaijanis have been killed or injured by mines,” Gafarova said, stressing that the remnants of war also inflict severe environmental damage by polluting soil and water resources, destroying biodiversity, and preventing the cultivation of fertile lands.

The Speaker underscored that for Azerbaijan, humanitarian demining is not only a matter of national security but also a crucial step toward environmental restoration and sustainable reconstruction.

Gafarova further highlighted the plight of around 4,000 Azerbaijani citizens who went missing during the years of conflict, describing their unresolved fate as a deep humanitarian concern.

“The suffering of these families is not only a national tragedy but a universal humanitarian issue that should resonate with the entire international community,” she emphasized.

Her remarks at the IPU Assembly underscored Azerbaijan’s call for greater international cooperation and awareness to address the devastating impact of landmines and to advance humanitarian demining efforts as part of global peace and recovery initiatives.